why should it be complicated? if you do your empty hand techniques like you have a sword in your hands, wouldn't that be strikes or put you in position to strike?

Why certainly. Whether you cut with a sword or a te gatana shomen uchi is the same.
Whether you thrust with a tanto or a fist the strike still has the same principles.
But i think that we had a slight misunderstanding here. What I actually meant is that the Aikido techniques are more complicated than mere strikes.
For example if you step in and cut you move in a specific orbit. But in order to execute a correct Ikkyo tenkan followed by tenkan ho, you move in a much more complicated way in terms of momentum,te sabaki, asi sabaki, tai sabaki and coordination.
The principles of the techniques are very deep and demanding,much more than the ones of a strike.
But, of course, a correct strike is not a easy issue either, but that's another story...